Antique Safe Restoration?

[RS3]

My dad recently gave me this safe as a gift. Overall measurements are 53" tall x 38" wide x 32" deep. Probably weighs in the neighborhood of 2 tons. I'm considering restoring it....any suggestions?

[Habanarrow]

that thing is sweet!

[josephd19]

dude seriously i may not touch that thing untill you figure out what its worth. i would hate for you to resore it and it e worth more untouched

[RS3]

dude seriously i may not touch that thing untill you figure out what its worth. i would hate for you to resore it and it e worth more untouched

I'm actually working on that right now. Not planning any restoration until I know more.

[White Falcon]

Take lots of pics before you do anything.

[Gummi Bear]

Definitely keep us posted. That is one cool safe!

[poisonivie]

This is mine. You can see what it looked like before and after. Mine was restored by Bob Overby in Prosper. He does it for a living.

[BlackHillRanch]

Wow! That's awesome ! What a great gift

[brushtrooper]

That is cool! Defiently take pics if you restore.

[Draco]

When I clicked on this thread, my heart started to race and my hands started shaking. I had to break in an old safe about this size but not the same brand. I was almost killed, not once but twice, in the process. It belonged to a friend and he had bought it at a county auction. It was in the Granger county office and hadn't been opened since 1958 and no one knew the combo.

The back of the safe was put on with counter sunk head screws that were around the edge and were about 2" apart. Back then they used wet sulfer for thread locker. We tried weveral screws with no luck. I used a scarfing tip on my torch to cut each screw head out. After taking all the screws out, the plate back just fell out onto the floor.

Then we started to hammer out the chalky material until we got to the inside sheet metal. My friend said to just cut that out with the torch but I argued that there would be oak shelves and drawers inside. He persisted and I almost did it but decided not too. We chiseled out more chalky stuff until the inside sheet meatl came out. Sitting right there on a shelf was an open box of blasting caps, the kind that you light. Close call for sure. We carried them out away from us and went back to work.

We took the shelving and drawer set out. There was a little piece of metal about 4"x6" right in the middle of the door with a small screw in the middle of it. I stuck my head into the safe with a flash light in my mouth and started taking the screw out. As the screw fell free I heard a loud snap sound. I froze. Knowing almost nothing about safes, I wondered if I had set off something that would freeze the gears up. I took the little piece of metal off and laying in a holder was a little, broken glass bottle with a cork in it and a spring loaded arm stuck in it. I picked up the arm and pulled the glass bottle out. The label on it said cyanide. It was designed to kill someone that tried to break into the safe. I guess the cyanide had all evaporated through the years. I was not only lucky once but twice.

[Liven4TheHunt]

Wow, I'm liking this thread

[RS3]

This is mine. You can see what it looked like before and after. Mine was restored by Bob Overby in Prosper. He does it for a living.

That's unbelieveable! Do you remeber what it cost to have it done?

[rferg84]

That's unbelieveable! Do you remeber what it cost to have it done?

I have I'd like restored too.

I'll get some pics later today.

[rferg84]

http://s109.photobucket.com/albums/n48/rfergeson/Schwab%20Safe/

[BlackHillRanch]

. Sitting right there on a shelf was an open box of blasting caps, the kind that you light. Close call for sure. We carried them out away from us and went back to work.

The label on it said cyanide. It was designed to kill someone that tried to break into the safe. I guess the cyanide had all evaporated through the years. I was not only lucky once but twice.

Thats crazy man!!!